


Work through it together

by Molliartytho



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Stucky - Freeform, and bucky thinking his jokes are awesome, but bucky will take care of him, lots of fluff, steve is so mad, they aren't and he's dumb, they just love each other, tony stark really fucked up this time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-13
Updated: 2016-02-13
Packaged: 2018-05-20 01:01:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5986936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Molliartytho/pseuds/Molliartytho
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony accidentally turns Steve into pre-serum Steve, and Bucky doesn't know how to feel about it</p>
            </blockquote>





	Work through it together

**Author's Note:**

> From a prompt on tumblr I hope you people enjoy

Tony wasn't sure what had happened.

….

Well actually he was sure.

He was sure he had fucked up royally, and Steve would probably never forgive him. Seeing as the super soldier had only agreed to these tests because he thought Tony knew what he was doing, and because Tony had begged to do tests to see if he could do what no other scientist could. He wanted to figure out that damn serum.

And he had somehow undone it. He undid it and needed to re-do it because this was now _another_ mess he’d gotten himself into. He needed to look over some numbers and figure that out and… Nope. Focus, he needed to focus.

Tony looked at the newly de-serumed Steve Rogers he wondered how long it would take for the yelling to start. The yelling and the anger. Was it worth the yelling and anger and hatred to figure this out? Hell what if he couldn’t change him back?

"Uh..." Tony blinked a few times and tried to make it look like he was still running the experiment. He didn’t know what to think of the fearless leader when he was a foot shorter and skinny as hell. He looked like death was going to take him any second.

Maybe he hadn't noticed yet?

Steve's eyes open and Tony knew he was screwed.

Steve looked up at Tony, a fact that the latter didn’t even have time to be smug about because the look of panic in Steve’s eyes was evident.

"Wh...what did you..." Steve started to speak but he was starting to breathe harder like he was going to have a panic attack. His hands started moving over his arms and chest and pulled at his shirt that was now completely too big for him. Like he was trying to feel if it was real.

"Tony what did you do?!" Steve all but yelled and that caused him to start coughing. He was frantic and Tony heard him starting to wheeze indicating the start of an asthma attack.

“I uh listen…I can fix this! I just have to..” Tony tried but Steve’s face got redder and he started walking in Tony’s direction.

Tony did the only thing he could think of. First he ran to the nearest enclosed space because he was sure Steve could still kick his ass. He wasn’t proud of that, but better to run and survive than stay and die.

Next he called for the doctors in the building and finally he dialed a number he never thought he'd be using. He heard Steve still freaking out from the other side of the room as the phone rang in his ear.

"Hey uh Barnes? I think you'd better get down here you seem to be able to calm him down most of the time. Although there is considerably less of him to calm at this point..."

* * *

 

Bucky had been enjoying some down time. He was sitting in his favorite chair all curled up reading a book when Tony Stark, that ass hole, called him rambling on about something.

He almost considered ignoring him because he was speaking very quickly and he didn’t know what he was doing calling him.

That was until he heard the coughing.

He’d know that anywhere, that was the sound of Steve “fight me” Rogers when he was having breathing problems and still wanted to fight someone.

Not even bothering to say anything before hanging up, Bucky shot up and paused only to stick his shoes on before running up the stairs to Stark’s lab.

He and Steve had been living in the tower with the other avengers for a while, and he knew that Natasha was getting done with her work out and was probably in the elevator and he couldn’t wait or explain anything. He didn’t know anything about what was going on. Steve couldn’t even have breathing problems now, but somehow Bucky felt it in his bones. He only knew one thing for sure and that was that Steve needed him now.

The second he got to the right floor he was all but sprinting to get to where the crowd of doctors were arriving to look over Steve.

Bucky’s breath caught in his throat as he saw Steve standing there in the middle of a room of doctors.

He was small again. His shirt was too big for him, one of his boney shoulders was showing and he was struggling to hold his pants up, because those were too big as well.

Steve’s chest was rising and falling quickly because he wasn’t breathing right and Bucky felt like he’d been hit with a baseball going a hundred miles an hour in the gut.

He had to steady himself against the wall as memory after memory of Steve looking just like that popped into his head at once. Every fight, every time he got angry and had that same red tint on his cheeks from the effort it took to stay angry.

Bucky was shaking slightly as memories flooded his head. This hadn’t happened for a long time and he needed to take a second to remember the breathing exercises Sam helped him find to calm himself down.

It took Bucky a minute to regain his balance and he was probably breathing just as hard as Steve was. He’d have to deal with that later, because right now he needed to help his baby out.

Steve always hated doctors and Bucky knew it was only a matter of time before he did something stupid.

So he took a deep breath, swallowed hard and made himself seem calm as he walked into the room. His expression softening when he saw Steve up close. It was like something out of his head. Out of a memory he was just now remembering.

He hadn’t realized how much he missed how little he’d been. Bucky felt a wave of protectiveness spread through his body and before he knew it he was standing by Steve’s side.

“Heya punk.” Bucky greeted him with his usual half smile. He was acting like nothing was different because he knew Steve was going to be so mad at everyone else. They both knew people would treat him different because of how he looked, so Bucky wasn’t going to do that. Never had done that to him.

When Steve finally noticed Bucky his whole body eased up a little. Like Bucky took some of the stress away. The thought that he was making Steve feel better made his chest feel warm and a wave of adoration for the small blonde swept through his whole body from his head to the tips of his toes. It was a nice feeling.

“Bucky…” Steve breathed out, wheezing still.

“They give you an inhaler yet?” Bucky asked with a slight frown as he watched all the doctors talking about how they were going to reverse this because the people needed Captain America. Bucky wanted to punch them all.

Steve hesitated and then shook his head and muttered out a bitter sounding, “No.” before a coughing fit started up again.

Brain kicking into action, Bucky spun around and glared at all the doctors, raising his voice so they could all hear him. He was able to call the whole room to attention with two words, he just had that kind of a presence.

“First things first, you all suck at your jobs there is a 90 pound asthmatic right here having an attack and he needs an inhaler yesterday. Second, Stark where the hell are you?” he asked loudly so the genius would actually hear him.

Tony’s head popped out from behind two scientists he was working with. One doctor, who wasn’t frozen in fear from Bucky being there and yelling at them, got to work getting an inhaler for Steve. Steve thanked her quietly after he got his breathing back to where it needed to be. Steve kept the inhaler in his hand, like he knew that he might need it later. He probably would.

Moving so he was right next to Steve, a hand coming to rest on his lower back, Bucky glared at Tony who just cleared his throat before replying

“Yes? You called for me?”

“Shut up. Figure out how to fix this.” Bucky said, venom in his voice. He knew how much Steve hated being small and how much he wanted to be someone who could help people, so he knew it was only a matter of time before he was begging Tony to turn him back.

Bucky turned to Steve who was finally breathing better and asked quietly, so only Steve could hear him

“You alright, doll?”

Steve still looked mad, upset, and sad even, but he nodded. Just like he used to, he was focusing on keeping his breathing regular and even. Bucky’s lips almost curled up into a smile, but he knew he’d never hear the end of that so he fought it off.

The memories were a lot clearer now that Steve was little again. Part of him wanted Steve to stay like this for a little while. But he also knew how much he didn’t want to be anymore. So he was torn.

“Look I just need to run some tests real quick and figure out what went wrong and then I won’t need him again for a few hours so…” Tony started to tell them.

“Stark.” Bucky interrupted in a low and dangerous voice that had Tony’s eyes going wide. “You run your tests. But the second you are done Steve and I are going back to our floor so he doesn’t kill you.”

Steve glared at the floor, glancing up at Tony for only a split second before clenching his hands into fists.

Bucky knew he was frustrated and upset and that was why he needed to get him away from people. Steve needed some time away from all this to think.

Tony just waved his hand like he hadn’t just made a horrible mistake and fucked up. Bucky wanted to punch him with his metal-fist right in the gut. The look on Bucky’s face must have told him that, because he didn’t say anything else.

Looking back at Steve, Bucky felt his chest tighten slightly at the expression on his face. He’d seen it a lot. It was the one that said they were in for a long night of talking and arguing because Steve needed to get some things through that thick skull of his and the only way to do that was to argue with him until he had nothing else to say.

 Bucky stayed close to him while Tony ran whatever tests he needed to run. Steve answered any questions the doctors had for him in a respectful tone since he knew it wasn’t their fault, but any time Tony tried to talk to him Steve glared at him and every word out of his mouth was sarcastic and rude.

Bucky had to try really hard not to laugh.

Tony stark was almost speechless because a small angry Steve was beating him at his own game: a verbal sparring match.

When the tests were all done and Tony gave them the go ahead to leave Bucky wrapped his arm around Steve’s waist and turned him towards the elevator, helping him to get there since he was all but tripping on the now too long pants.

Bucky knew he was frustrated and embarrassed and upset, but damn if this didn’t make him nostalgic.

They were quiet on the way back to their floor. Steve was simmering in his anger and Bucky knew he’d talk to him when he was ready.

The second the elevator doors opened Steve all but blew up.

“I can’t believe this! I knew I shouldn’t have let him anywhere near me. _Won’t be a problem._ He says. _Be out of here in one piece in no time._ He says.” Steve starts pacing and Bucky tries so hard not to laugh or smile because he’s serious and this is a serious situation.

But Steve’s clothes are too big and he’s tripping over them and he just looks so…cute that he can’t help it. He chuckles and Steve’s head whips around so he can glare at him.

“What’s so damn funny?”

Bucky puts his hands up like he’s surrendering

“Hey, I didn’t mean anything by it pal. Those clothes are just a little too big now. Why don’t we find you something else to change into? Then you can rant about Tony all you want and about how much you hate this.”

Steve looked like he was halfway between kicking him and crying. Bucky didn’t know which one scared him more.

“I just..” Steve starts and then sighs, bringing a hand up to his head to rub his temple. He doesn’t finish his thoughts instead he turns and pulls his pants off so he can go change into something that won’t drown him.

Bucky’s mouth goes dry as a memory comes into his head.

Small, skinny Steve walking around their bedroom in nothing but his shirt after a very…exciting night.

Bucky has to clear his throat and shake his head a few times to get it to go away. He needed to focus on Steve right now, not on what apparently happened back in the 1930’s and 40’s that Steve hadn’t mentioned for whatever reason.

“Stevie? You alright?” Bucky asked as he trailed behind him.

Steve snorted, hands busy taking off the now too big clothes and looking for something smaller to wear and Bucky knew the answer.

“C’mon punk at least we know how to take care’a you till Stark figures out how to change you back.” Bucky said, trying to make him feel better.

Steve looked surprised, his movements pausing for a moment

“You..want him to change me back?” he asked and then continued to put on one of Bucky’s sweatshirts, it was still a little big but it was better than what he had been wearing. He grabbed some sweats with ties and had to pull them all the way to get them to stay on him.

Bucky looked him up and down, choosing his next words very carefully

“Well I just thought _you_ would want him to…” he muttered, his eyes kept looking Steve up and down and he was a little distracted by the sight of his boyfriend in his clothes looking so adorable right there and he didn’t want to touch him because Steve was still rather frustrated and he didn’t want to upset him more.

“So you don’t want him to.” Steve said, glaring at the ground slightly, and Bucky knew this was a trap.

“Stevie I want what you want. If you wanna stay like this then tell Stark to take a break and if you want him to change you back then I’ll yell at him to get him to work faster.” Bucky replied, hoping that got him out of whatever Steve was trying to do.

Truth be told Bucky didn’t know how to feel about this whole thing. He felt like someone had thrown him back into the 1930’s, it was a little disorienting.

Steve was quiet for a moment and then his eyebrows knotted together and he walked over to where Bucky was now sitting on their bed and quickly took a seat in his lap.

Bucky was gentle as he took his fella in his arms. He was keeping it all together so Steve had a minute to breakdown and fall apart.

“Stevie?” he asked quietly

“I saw the way you looked at me when you saw me like this…you like it better when I’m small and helpless looking…” Steve mumbled, settling in against his chest.

“Now that is a load of bullshit and you know it.” Bucky scoffed and glared at the back of Steve’s head for a second.

“You’ve never been helpless. And I don’t care what you look like. I love you because you’re a good person. A dumb ass who does stupid things and sometimes you make me want to pull all my hair out, yeah. But you’re a damn good person. Sure sometimes I have to take care of you and make sure you don’t get yourself killed, whether you’re small or huge or something in between. You know that, punk, I know you do.”

Steve’s bottom lip was trembling and Bucky stopped because he knew this was a lot and any time he cried his asthma got worse.

“Yeah Buck…sorry I know that. This is just…crazy.”

Bucky chuckled a little and leaned down to press a kiss to his forehead.

“Our lives are crazy. But hey you got me and I’m not leavin. Till the end of the line no matter what.”

Steve smiled a little bit, his expression melting into something soft and full of love and Bucky counted it as a win.

“Sap.” Steve accused softly

Bucky tipped his head up so he could kiss him for a good long moment before pulling away to grin at him and say

“Yeah I’m the sap.”

Steve just laughed a little bit. He knew that this wasn’t over and Tony would figure this out because he wouldn’t stop until he did. But until then Bucky was alright taking care of Steve. Making sure he remembered it was him who was special and not what he looked like.

He’d bring up his memories that had come back later, because that was one good thing that had come from this. And Steve would be happy to know it helped Bucky.

They’d get through this just like they got through everything. Together.


End file.
